Chubby Toddlers & Weight Gain

Chubby Toddlers & Weight Gain

So, what goes on behind closed doors? During a child’s check up, I spend time showing parents (as well as older children) their child’s growth curve. This curve looks at...

So, what goes on behind closed doors? During a child’s check up, I spend time showing parents (as well as older children) their child’s growth curve. This curve looks at a child’s weight and height, and for children 2 and older, their body mass index (BMI). This visual look at how their child is growing is always eagerly anticipated by parents as they can compare their own child to norms by age, otherwise called a cohort.

I often then use the growth curve as a segue into the discussion about weight trends and a healthy weight for their child. I really like to start this conversation after the 1 year check up when a child has stopped bottle feeding and now getting regular meals adn enjying table food.

This discussion becomes especially important during the toddler years as there is growing data that rapid weight gain trends, in even this age group, may be associated with future obesity and morbidity. Discussions about improving eating habits and making dietary and activity recommendations needs to begin sooner rather than later.

I found an article in this month’s journal of Archives of Pediatrics especially interesting as it relates to this subject. A study out of the University of Maryland looked at the parental perception of a toddler’s (12-32 months) weight. The authors report that 87% of mothers of overweight toddlers were less likely to be accurate in their weight perceptions that were mothers of healthy weight toddlers.

They also reported that 82% of the mothers of overweight toddlers were satisfied with their toddler’s body weight. Interestingly this same article pointed out that 4% of mothers of overweight children and 21% of mothers of healthy weight children wished that their children were larger.

Part of this misconception may be related to the fact that being overweight is becoming normal. That seems like a sad statement about our society in general.

Further research has revealed that more than 75% of parents of overweight children report that “they had never heard that their children were overweight” and the rates are even higher for younger children. If this is the case, we as pediatricians need to be doing a better job.

We need to begin counseling parents (and their children when age appropriate) about diet and activity even for toddlers. By doing this across all cultures we may be able to change perceptions of healthy weight in our youngest children in hopes that the pendulum of increasing obesity in this country may swing the other way.

Dr. Sue Hubbard is an award winning pediatrician and medical editor for www.kidsdr.com. She is a native of Washington, D.C. who travelled south to attend the University of Texas at Austin and never left.Read More